Google Will Support Gadget Developers

Jul 02, 2007

Google starts a new pilot program, called Google Gadget Ventures. This program will seek to help gadget developers all over the world create better and more qualitative gadgets. The decision was driven by the fact that one of the latest projects of Google - iGoogle, was built on gadgets, developed by third-party programmers. Some of those gadgets, like Wikipedia search, Google News, BBC News, Gmail and others, enjoyed a great deal of popularity.

Google Gadget Venture means there will be two types o grants for third-party developers. First type is a $ 5,000 grant, meant for those who have already assisted in developing one of the Google's existing gadgets and which enjoys at least 250,000 page views per week. As a must Google says applicants will have to submit a one-page proposal, detailing how the applicant would use the money to develop the gadget.

The second type of funding is seed investments in value of $ 100,000. This grant is meant for people planning to build a business around Google Gadgets. However only those, who have already received a Google Gadget Venture grant, are eligible for the seed investment. In addition the applicant has to submit a business plan and prove the plan's viability in the Google Gadget Venture environment.

If you're in need for further reading on the subject, Google Gadget Venture has already organized a which welcomes every interested person. As a matter of fact, this FAQ page says that Google is ready to invest as much money as it takes to develop extraordinary gadgets for the service. Google's officials have also said that they expect to give 20-40 grants per year $ 5,000 each and 2-5 seed investments per year.